What gaming headphones to buy? - Page 108

I gotta admit this does look tempting. I might just order one to test out if it does in fact work. I am currently playing PS3 with a pair of AD700's plugged directly into my television. I am at the moment trying to decide between an astro mixamp,and a receiver with dolby headphone technology, but at $40 maybe I will try the Xmod for the heck of it to see how it works.

It does, if it had a DAC - doesn't have a digital optical input.

i think it was like $17 when i posted that.... if it's $40 now i dont know if it'll be worth it.

I am currently using a 26" Panasonic LCD. I have it hooked up to my PS3 via HDMI. The tv has a an optical output. I am a total newb when it comes to this stuff, but if I keep my PS3 hooked up via HDMI, and bought an Astro mixamp, and hook it up with the optical cable output from my tv would it be able to pass through a dolby digital signal, and would I be able to control the volume, treble and bass, or would it simply act as a hub?

your tv most likely wont pass more than 2ch on the optical output. run optical from the ps3 to the mixamp

if anyone has that code pm bout to order a set of astros

Just wanted to thank formulanerd for finding and posting these links for me. I bought the 6' one and it works almost perfectly with my Astro A40's.

One tiny issue, I think these cables have cheesy jacks because if you twist it around in the controller end you can get some static. It doesnt happen all the time or if you are playing normally, only if you really twist back and forth you get some. Does the stock cable do this at all?

Which is better in terms of sound quality. The Audio Technica ATH-A700 or the Audio Technica ATH-AD700

AD700.

i think for a closed version, the A900 more closely compares to the AD700, but the AD700 will be better than the A700 or A900 for gaming, simply for soundstage if nothing else.

unless you absolutely need a closed can, get the AD700's... and you might as well get them from KBI

Yeah, I saw he's selling his, but I found brand new pair for $80 shipped. If he wants to go lower we got a deal.

Well reading on the net about the AD's, and people are saying how they lack in bass quite a bit compared to others, so that might be a deal breaker for me. I don't need brain shaking bass, but I definitely want to hear it.

I own both the AD700's and A700's. The AD700's don't really lack bass at all, it just seems that the bass on the closed A700's and closed in general seem to echo and reverberate, so the bass on the A700's seems to be stronger, it's just that it's more in your face. The biggest difference between the 2 I found honestly is the fit. They have different pads in both material and thickness, and I have ears that stick out, so had to reinforce the pads on the AD700's google phatpad, and you'll see what I mean. I currently use the AD700's for gaming, and the A700's for music, but will soon be selling my A700's. I definitely recommend the AD700's for gaming. You would be hard pressed at that price to find something better.

I just recieved my new gaming headset in the mail. I hope you like it. I haven't had a chance to test it or burn it in.

Darth Beyers... very nice.

What is that junction, and what is that amp?

The junction has a special splitter to hold an AT Pro 70 mic at the proper distance, the kind of mic you see used on TV (typically clipped on). These pro style mics require phantom power which is what the adapter does giving me a line to my astro mixamp. I only need one more piece to complete my ultimate gaming rig. Hopefully I will complete it in about a month. I thought these would be fun gaming cans but I might also have him do this to a set of 880s when I pickup a headzone.

Wow, that is ingenious. You're more hardcore about game audio then i am. You might want to look into the Smyth Virtual System. What other piece of equipment do you need to complete your setup? You look to already have everything you need.

I want to get the beyerdynamic headzone. With its adjustable ambiance and room size it is the best headphone surround amp. The Smyth Virtual System only beats the headzone when it comes to 2 channel music ( normal music listening). The headzone is better at dvds and gaming by the reviews from people that have heard both. I have tested my setup substituting my denon homeamp for the headzone so I know this will work. I am going to have fiber pluged into the headzone and the astro mixamp from the xbox using the headzones bypass out optical. the astro mix amp will be hooked up normally but with the small knob turned all the to chat so I get chat and my voice fed into the headphones. I will also have a line from the headzone output. I will take the two outputlines ( the one from the headzone and the one from the mixamp [ speaker output on the 4 pole splitter]) and run both lines into my Xenyx 802 mixer. Than the output of mixer would go to the headphones. The mic of the headphones of course would go to the mic input on the 4 pole splitter on the mixamp. This will allow me to have full controll over the chat and even be able to pan it anywhere I want in the soundstage so it isnt intruding on the game and get the best surround sound from the headzone witch also allow me to adjust the roomsize and ambiance. i can also eq either channel that I want to bring audio cues out or to make it more fun. Let me know what you think.

Nice Cans KingStyles. I see you use a headphone amp inline with your Astro mixamp. How is the bass and treble levels of the mixamp by itself? I myself like some bass in my gaming makes the game atmosphere feel more energetic and immersive. What amp is it you use, and what amp do you suggest to use in conjunction with the mixamp to give me a better bass response? I am looking for something cheap. I was thinking of a Fioo E5 for it's bass boost option, but would like the feedback of people with experience.

I think the mixamp by itself might be a little shy on bass when listening to music, but the bass seems to be decent if you have some headphones that have good bass when playing games. Ive been using the mmx-300 which have nice clear bass when Im playing cod. They have a good imersion factor to them partly because of the bass Im getting . They make guns sound real nice. I wouldnt plug an amp directly into the mixamp. When I did that the sound quality went down and became distorted rather quikly. The only way i see to do it without sacrificing too much quality is to use a mixer. A preamp with optical in and out with a built in eq running to the mixamp wouold probably work but probably wouldnt be cheap either. To answer Foe's question more directly, the last thing I ned is the headzone. I should have the funds by the end of the month hopefully.

I just got to try my new darths out before I start burning them in and I have to say sssswwwweeeeeeet. Music already sounds good.Cant wait to see what they can do once a full burn in is done. Also, took them for a quick spin on xbox, they rocked on COD WAW. The footsteps and other audio cues were very well defined and stood out way more than my mmx300s or my tbx4s. Totaly worth the money. Finally some real speaker like bass without being intrusive or out of balance, and they will only get better with burnin. mmmmmmmmmmm

I am still trying to decide myself. I am horrible when it comes to making decisions. I have been rearching Silent Cinema and Dolby headphones for a few weeks now. I have heard many DH demos online, and they definitely sound impressive, sadly there are none for SC. I found an interesting video showcasing DH online.
http://revision3.com/diggnation/2008-08-14dolby/
I went to my local radioshack and they had the Yamaha HTR-6130 there for 229 http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/p...3&CTID=5000400 I am currently trying to decide on either ordering a mixamp or grabbing the Yamaha receiver. I am swinging more towards the receiver route due to being able to adjust bass, and treble, but the mixamp is very tempting at it's price.

I'm surprised, to say the least. I thought SVS would better the beyerdynamic headzone especially in surround. Considering supposedly SVS can mimic exactly what a $50k 7.1 speaker setup can do. If you have those links comparisons between the two, i'd love to read up on it.

And supposedly the SVS can mimic the Headzone. In other words, the SVS can be calibrated to mimic a speaker system, and the SVS can also be calibrated to mimic a headphone system that mimics a speaker system.

wavoman on head-fi is about the only person who has actually compared the two. If you look through his posts you can find where he says the headzone is good for the Dts and dolby and the smyth is good for the 2 channel. What people seem to forget is you have to have the 50000 doller speaker/amp setup in order to calibrate the smyth to sound like a 50000 doller setup. Not to mention a good or bad acoustical room would also change the dynamics of the calibration. A 500 doller setup will make the smyth sound like a 500 doller setup. Also one more thing to note why the headzone might be better with surround sound is the smyth system dosent have a built in dts/dolby decoder. You have to supply your own so the dts/dolby decoding will only be as good as the decoder that you use. Is there any decoder that is better than the headzone at this time with its ability to adjust its room size and ambiance? The headzone pro xt might give it a run for its money. No one has reviews out on it but being able to use the software to place the speakers anywhere you want in the room and a bunch of ways to adjust every nuance which would allow you to adjust it to sound like any envirement/room without having to actually being in the room first. Not to get me wrong, I think the smyth setup is pretty cool and would love to have one, its not practical for me because its not as flexible. Maybe it is, if someone could convice me otherwise. (Can someone let me borrow there 50000 doller speaker setup and there toslink to analog converter so I can try hooking one up to my xbox.) I know it is only one mans opinion, but it is all I can go by at the moment and nobdy that I saw is even disputing the theory that the headzone would do a better dts/dolby.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f11/sm...19/index8.html This forum has a lot of info in it. Post 107 is a good place to start,`121 and 123 he restates how he likes the headzone for dts and dolby. There are other areas in other threads that he makes comparisons. He did hear the smyth system on a good stereo because he demo it at canjam 08.http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/lon...01/index3.htmlAlso this link shows some nice pictures of it on the first page. The third page shows if you dont have a perfect system what problems you may run into.

Yes, wavoman said that Headzone is good for DTS and Dolby. He also said that SVS is better than Headzone for 2 channel. However, wavoman did not say that Headzone is better than SVS for DTS and Dolby.

Anyway, if you happen to like the sound of Headzone more than sound of real speakers, then you can simply calibrate the SVS to mimic the sound of Headzone, instead of calibrating the SVS to mimic the sound of real speakers. That way, the SVS will sound exactly like Headzone, if that is what you want.

He did say it was better in a different thread, I just havent found it yet. Overall there both good systems and willl be up to personal preference or needs. For me, Im more into gaming than pure audio so I feel that the headzone is better for me, not to mention it is half the cost. 1364 compared to 3000 for the smyth with headphones. Wouldnt you have to have a headzone in order to calibrate the smith to it? They arent exactly easy to get a hold of and then make a bunch of different profiles so you have the 33 levels of roomsize and 33 levels of ambiance calibrations. Too much work. Just as well own both. Oh well,to each their own. edit I just saw your conversation with waveman and its just a theory that you would be able to simmulate the headzone with the smyth. More power to you if you can do it. a good theory proved right is the basis of scientific advancment.

Yes, you would need to have access to a Headzone for a few minutes.

You could do a few levels, instead of doing all 33 levels. You just press a few buttons and wait a few minutes while the SVS is calibrating, which is not much work.

One obstacle is interfacing the analog outputs of the SVS to the digital input of the Headzone Home/Game. For 2 channels, you could use a 2-channel ADC, which produces PCM output. For 5.1 channels, you would have to use a realtime encoder for Dolby or DTS (such as the Creative Home Theater Connect DTS-610), which might introduce too much delay and too much artifacting.

(There is no such obstacle for the Headzone Pro, since it has 5.1-channel analog inputs.)

Yes, it's just a theory. That's why I wrote "supposedly" in my post. It remains to be seen (or heard) how well the SVS could mimic the Headzone (if anyone bothers to try it).

There might be a slight problem hooking up the headzone pro xt. The analog inputs is a 25 pin sub d connector. Can the smyth connect to that?

Another problem is that the SVS outputs are unbalanced, whereas the Headzone Pro XT inputs are balanced. So you would need to convert each signal from unbalanced (RCA) to balanced (XLR), and use a DB25-to-8XLR breakout cable (which is an optional accessory for the Headzone Pro XT).

Anyway, the Headzone Pro (non-XT) has 6 unbalanced RCA inputs, so it would be easiest for interfacing.